On January 16, stateless activist Abdulhakim AlFadhli entered hunger strike in prison right after getting a two-year jail sentence. The court charged the activist with attacking a policeman in a protest last March. The activist stated that this charge, among others, is fabricated against him because of his political activism in demanding the rights of Kuwait’s stateless community. AlFadhli was arrested earlier last month with his brother Abdulnasser AlFadhli, who was acquitted in the same case and released. Here is a translated excerpt of his statement, as published by Jadaliyya:

At 7p.m. on 16 January 2013, I officially announce from this freedom cell in Kuwait’s Central Jail that I will go on an indefinite hunger strike in protest of the injustice and the cases fabricated unfairly against me by the security system. They are trying to destroy my life, reputation, future, and freedom. They are torturing me to force me to stop my activism for the cause of the stateless of Kuwait. I will not stop my hunger strike until: 1) I am released;
2) Cases fabricated against me are dropped; 3) The formation of a national nonpartisan committee to investigate cases of kidnapping, arrests, torture, and fabrications against activists, including my own case.
Most probably, this will be my last message to you for the time being as I am sure there will be repercussions after this message is released to the media and the public. I know I will be put into solitary confinement, away from the light of the sun and people, to punish me for exercising my right to defend my freedom through a hunger strike.

Right after his statement, the community protested in Taimaa area against the jail sentence. Here are some photographs from the protest shared on Twitter:

@Nietzsche69k: How painful this silence is, Kuwaiti people! How painful this silence, you who read this tweet! Abdulhakim AlFadhli is in jail and is suffering in pain because of this silence as he hunger strikes.

After a few days, a Twitter user named “Anonymous Stateless” started a hashtag for AlFadhli’s case: